Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Don't miss out on these two events...
1) THE VIDEO SHOW curated by Chris Coombes
Time:7pm onwards on Thursday 26th of April
Place: 182 Stoke Newington Road, N16 7UY
2) IN COMES THE BLACK DOG (An art auction in aid of Depression Alliance)
Time:6.30pm till 1am on Friday 27th of April
Place: The Underdog Gallery, Crucifix Lane SE1 3JW

If you're an art lover who wants to help Depression Alliance help troubled souls come on Friday to The Underdog gallery (near London Bridge). You can buy artworks by all sorts of talented people including: Billy Childish, Leonard Cohen, Emma Thompson, and Harry Pye!
The Semi-Legendary D.J Alex Chappel is going to spinning platters that matter and there will be live music from some youngsters called "Drag Your Heels"

(The image above "I'm Thinking" is a portrait of Russell Walker by Harry Pye. It's acrylic on canvas, 91cm x 122cm and it will be available to buy on the night.

Meanwhile, fans of London's most exciting film makers: Team Beswick And Pye will be excited to learn that their masterpiece: "Harry's Haircut" will be screened at an art event on Thursday alongside films made by 24 talented chaps including: John Moseley, Julian Wakeling, Peter Walsh, Gavin Toye, and Uliana Apatina. Curator Chris Coombes says that the total running times of the films is 58 minutes. The event starts on the dot of 7pm. There will be 8 minute breaks for people to stretch their legs.

(Above: A still from "Harry's Haircut" (2010) a film by Team Beswick & Pye

Monday, 23 April 2012

(Above Image: A sleeve for The Cure single "It's Friday I'm In Love With" designed by Team Beswick & Pye which was sold in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust at The Idea Generation gallery in Redchurch Street).
More News and pics to follow

Sunday, 15 April 2012

You can see Zia Fukyana's work at The Other Other Art Fair:
10-13th May 2012
Ambika P3 Marylebone Rd NW1
Opening Hours:
Private View – Thursday 10th May 2012 – 5pm – 9pm
Friday 11th May 2012 – 11am – 8pm
Saturday 12th May 2012 – 11am – 6pm
Sunday 13th May 2012 – 11am – 6pm
The Rebel: I notice animals feature a lot in your work. Are you more of a cat person than a dog person?
Zia: "I like dogs but I love cats. I have an embarrassing amount of cat books and DVDs of nature programs that feature cats in my room. I never tire of watching documentaries or hearing stories about big cats. Last night I re-watched a show about the noisy courtships between leopards. Female leopards are only receptive for a few days a year so the courtship begins with the female calling loudly. Her signal attracts several males who then fight it out. Some fights end in death. The winner is often scratched a lot by the female too. It's only when she is really sure that she stops fighting and accepts his advances. When this happens he begins doing an awful lot of biting. Maybe it's his revenge? One of my few ambitions in life is to own an Abyssinian cat. The big problem is they need a home with lots and lots of space - which is something I don't have. These cats are a direct descendant of the sacred ancient Eqyptian cats and they have the same shaped ears. I guess what I love about cats is what everyone else does: the paradox that they are domesticated and yet retain a touch of the wild."

The Rebel: Is Zia Fukyana the name you were born with?
Zia: "Well Harry, you've known me a while and I believe you already know the answer to that particular question. I was born in London in 1989. The work I make is to do with untold histories, my DNA, and my family that resides in other countries. I can tell you that the original meaning of the name Zia is splendor or light. I hope my work sheds the light on certain things. I am here to make the best art I can and that's all that counts. I don't think it matters if my parents did or didn't actually name me Zia or not. Do you?"Have you decided what work you're putting in The Other Other Art Fair?
"I've made several new pieces. I tend to get too close to my own work. I have a friend who helps me decide. Recently I've been making work based on an Egyptian sculpture I saw in the British Museum. Last year I went to lots of private views and art events but saw nothing that stayed with me after I'd gone. When I go to places like the V & A or The British Museum it's a different story. I'm really into a sculpture of King Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC). The Egyptians were into recycling and royal statues in Egypt were sometimes taken over by later rulers. The normal procedure was simply to re-carve their name over the old one, but in some cases the physical features were also altered. In this statue the lips have been changed and made to look thinner. There's something in the look of his eyes and his smile that really disturbs me - in a good way - and it's inspired lots of drawings and paintings."

Saturday, 14 April 2012

I recently re-read Fear of Music (a book in which Garry Mulholland raves about the albums he loves.)

Mr Muholland's take on The Specials is that "They're heroes who proved you can change the world with an unwavering moral stance and some of the best f***ing pop music anyone in this country has ever made."

I hope we won't mind me cutting and pasting some of his observations..."'Just because you're nobody/Doesn't mean that you're no good'. What a line. Admittedly, at first glance, even first listen, it doesn't have the rapier wit of Lydon, nor the bravura word skill of Costello, nor the psycho-dramatic power of Ian Curtis. But this line from The Specials' 'Doesn't Make It Alright', sung by Terry Hall with a strength that reveals all the compassion behind it, is absolutely key to the extraordinary impact of what was, when you come right down to it, a ska revival band. The Specials made music about many things, but it always came down to one. The working class spent much of their time fighting each other. This is convenient for the ruling elite. So... stop. Divide and rule, racial difference, sexual distrust, bad environment and that good old 'no future' excuse were no excuse whatsover. Wise up. See that our similarities are far deeper than our differences. Look at the real problem. Unite. Simple.
'Blank Expression', 'Stupid Marriage', 'Too Much Too Young' and 'Little Bitch' formed a mini-opera towards the album's end, a discourse on the young working-class male's fear of women. Rejection, girl-as-property, marriage, teen pregnancy, parenthood and the middle class inspire comedy, compassion, anger, revulsion and a brutally honest questioning of where boy-meets-girl goes from here, prefaced by the date-in-dystopia nightmare that is '(Dawning Of A) New Era'. And guitarist Roddy Radiation's 'Concrete Jungle' took the band's courage a step further, owning up to being personaly scared of violence, of not being hard, despite how sharp and hard they all looked on that generation-definging monochrome sleeve.
Most of us feel like nobodies. The Specials understood that and convinced a generation that they were good. We still live in a world that this record helped to shape."

I agree with Garry's review and in my opinion the new charity compilation "Specialized" is a really positive new chapter in The Specials story. You can find out how to buy it by visiting www.thespecials2.com
More than 30 bands and singers who are either friends or fans of the band have got involved and have contributed a track to this special tribute album. A few 2-Tone legends like Rhoda Daker and Rico Rodriguez make guest appearances and Specials bass player Horace Panter has written the albums's sleevenotes. Every single penny made from sales of the new compilation c.d will go to The Teenage Cancer Trust charity. It's a great chance to hear brilliant new versions of all the old classics but also, by buying it you're giving money to an organisation who help young people whose lives have been turned upside down by cancer. It's a chance to let them know they haven't been forgotton about.

JumpUp Records in the USA are planning to release a 7″ EP on vinyl featuring four tracks from the Specialized album. The EP will feature...King Hammond,The Values featuring Roland Gift, Lee Thompson, and Orange street.

(Above: Lee Thompson from Madness whose recorded a new version of the Prince Buster classic "Madness".)

Featuring

(Above: Roland Gift sings You're Wondering Now)
Also on the e.p
Orange Street give us their version of It Doesn't Make It Alright.
King Hammond (a.k.a Nick Welsh)re-works Friday Night, Saturday Morning.

Another single featuring Bluebird Parade and Prince Edward Island is to follow that.

(Above: Bluebird Parade (whose line up includes talented trumpeter Jon Read)have recorded a completely brilliant new version of Dawning of a New Era.
A very, very limited edition sceen print of The Specials will be given to the first few people to order a 7"

(Above the super limited A3 sized screen print is a must for people alive today).

Saturday, 7 April 2012

The Rebel: Do you read a lot? Do you have any favourite books? "I read a lot because there are words everywhere. Franz Fanon's Black Skins White Faces. Catcher in the rye. J.G Ballard. A clockwork orange. In no order."The Rebel: Do you sleep well at night? "I am an insomniac and paint at night. I have not slept 8 eight hours since I was in my mum's womb. She said I kicked a lot."The Rebel: Do you own any box sets (of CDs or DVDs)? "The Wire. A lot of Manga. Everything by 9mm Parabellum Bullet."The Rebel: What are you working on at the moment?"Stuff for your art fair."The Rebel: What do you hope to get out of doing the Other (Other) Art Fair?"Nothing. I have nothing. I want nothing. I need nothing." The Rebel: Which contemporary artists do you most admire?"I am not interested in contemporary art. I think art is boring. It's just a brand now. Just another thing people buy to be cool."The Rebel: Lots of people in the press have been slagging off Damien Hirst recently. Do you think it matters what people say? Do you believe the Oscar Wilde quote about the only thing worst than being talked about is NOT being talked about? "Damien Hirst and Banksy are master salesmen, so for them it matters if they're not talked about. But I make art because it hurts if I don't."The Rebel: Do you come from an artistic family? What do your brothers and sisters do? "No. My mum was a support teacher. I don't have a dad. I don't have brothers and sisters. I can be alone."The Rebel: Which countries would you most like to visit and why? "I want to go to Japan because I am into everything there."
The Rebel: At what age were you at your most happy? "Still waiting."The Rebel: Can you play any musical instruments? If not what would you like to learn? "Yes. The guitar."The Rebel: What is your favourite museum or gallery?"Tescos."The Rebel: How far can you swim? "I don't know how."The Rebel: Do you draw every day?"I draw blood."The Rebel: Do you ever go to life drawing classes?"No."The Rebel: Why do you smash your work up? "Because I am angry."

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Liam Newnham is the curator of a show that opens at the Eb & Flow gallery in Shoreditch next week.

The Rebel:What is the Liam Newnham story? Tell me about where you were born and some news about what's been happening to you since your birth.
Liam: "Born 1979. In a one room hospital in ancient woodlands whilst purity lay quiet all around, my head was so large I popped out like a champagne cork and had to be caught by an elderly one eyed nurse.
Spent most of my life in London, Highbury and Hackney largely, East Ham now.
Childhood spent closely with a severely physically disabled sibling and hard working lefty feminist parents, I don’t resent that though. Honest.
Its good to be asked to talk about myself here, as a key concern of the show is the idea of the artist being vulnerable in showing himself and the power this brings to the work. I think a common way of avoiding the difficulties presented by such vulnerability is to choose to talk about others. So thank you for my own opportunity to be vulnerable. Which I tend to deal with through humour and ambiguity. Aha."

The Rebel:What made you want to do this show?
"I wanted to show some work that I really like by some people I think have voice.
The idea formed around that work and has grown to something more.
I am writing this as the work is being made around me in the space. It is so exciting to finally see it exist. A lot of it has been made for the show so I have not been able to select specific works but rather people, and of course other humans have their own ideas of what they want so it has been a fairly hands off process. Luckily I had a strong sense of what the show wants and I think I have been largely successful in communicating that to the artists in the early stages.

(Above: A photo from the p.v. of She Doesn't Care. The work on teh wall is a homage to Jean Dubuffet by Harry Pye)

The Rebel: To what extent are you a bad man?
"I get angry sometimes, worse of all I can feel justified in that.
I am not very good at managing impressions. I find other people confusing but am equally fascinated.
I’m too honest. I fail at the games of social politeness. Other people find this confusing, but not fascinating.
I did quite a lot of shoplifting as a teenager.
I recently shoplifted a pair of golden Walnuts from a 99p shop in an art fair somewhere.
I’m not sorry. It was worth it."

(Above: Cedar in front of his artwork at the p.v)

The Rebel: Are you worried the name of the show and the fact it's all men is likely to cause a few catty remarks and jeers and sneers?
Liam: "What a thing to worry about! No.
Necessarily the selection and the press release, is rather aware of this potential. And displays a knowing naivety towards such easy criticism. I hope this helps people to not get caught in churning old porridge and move on to other more tasty courses of fresh meat and refreshing salad."

The Rebel: What are you going to do after this project? What would make you happy?
Liam: "I think I am on the cusp of conquering the time>money>space triangle of London lifestyle to the point of being able to afford some time in the studio, so, I am going to paint. Painting would make me happy. And maybe she will care."

Exhibition and gallery information:
She Doesn’t Care (Group Show) curated by Liam Newnham
Dates: 7 April – 11 May 2012
Private View: Private View: 5 April 2012 - 6:00 - 8:00pm
Address: 77 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4QS
Nearest tube: Old Street
Phone number: +44 (0)20 7729 7797
Website: www.ebandflowgallery.com
Opening Times: Tuesday to Friday 11- 6pm, Saturday 1-5pm and Monday by appointment only
Free admission
Press and Sales Contact: Nathan Engelbrecht
+44 (0)77 250 39 581 or nathan@ebandflowgallery.com
She Doesn’t Care
- Male painters not impressing a woman
Group Show curated by Liam Newnham
7 April – 11 May 2012
Private View: 5 April 2012 - 6:30 - 8:30 (followed by curated after party and EB&Flow 1st Birthday Celebrations at Victorian Vaults)
‘She Doesn’t Care’ brings together work by men, focusing on current trends of mark making and production, across style and medium, which encode a masculinity less concerned with brash, aggressive dynamism than with a gentler, more vulnerable movement.
Intrigued with the loss of the archetypal modalities of the late and post modern male artist figure, so opening an examination of current expressions of masculinity as evidenced through art making.
There is a delicately balanced dichotomy involved in the showing of one’s work; a subtle point of bravado and vulnerability on the part of the artist that can somehow lend the work itself an unusual aura of importance - the delicate importance of personal truth, vulnerable to the gaze of the other.
Here, these brave few willingly offer their efforts to an indifferent audience. These makers make, perhaps not to impress, but, rather, to share enjoyment of their medium, through which they are empowered to know and thus share themselves.
Recognising failure as inherent and accepting its gift, the work carries on regardless of her criticisms.
Who is she? To these artists, all male, she is as much imagined other as she is Mother, Lover, Another. ‘She’ the projected destination for communiqué.
The work, diverse in form, strikes a conversation amongst men, men at work having a mother’s meeting. And what is said? There is certainly no unifying voice, the many interests and perspectives are each unique, if not quite at odds.
What commonality can be found here? What is it that allows this work to co-inhabit this space?
In examining the apparent masculinity in current art production we must look to the evidence of the mark itself.
As installation, object, video, text or paint on or off canvas, here we consider mark making as the effort of the artist in space and time - the physical trace of mental effort, the putting-out-there of an internal process. Result determined by intention such marks may well be first pushed through the fabric of reality with one’s mind. The brush unnecessary.
Artists included in group show:
Wayne Horse, Run, Sweetoof, Edward Fornieles, Tek 33, Ben Cavers, Barry Reigate, Jasper Joffe, Harry Pye, Cedar Lewisohn, Kate Hawkins, Adam Christensen, Ben Young, Daniel Schwitzer, Jonathan Kipps, Gordon Beswick.